Method of making hinge leaves



Jan. 21, 1936.

J. A. EDEN, JR

' Original Filed June 10, 1951 ATTORNEYS Patented Jan. 21, 1936 UNITED STATES METHOD or MAKING HINGE LEAVES James A. Eden, Jr., Springfield, Mass., assignor to Moore Drop Forging Company, Springfield, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Continuation of application Serial No. No. 543,- 319, June 10, 1931. This application September 13, 1932, Serial No. 632,882 x 1 Claim.

The invention provides certain improvements in the making of hinge leaves and particularly leaves provided at one end with ears, to be apertured for receiving the hinge pin, and with a hood extending partially around the periphery of the ears soas to guard against the admission of dust and to strengthen the ears.

This application is a continuation of a previous application Serial No. 543,319, filed June 10,

1931, and includes certainextensions of the inventions described therein.

The accompanying drawing illustrates embodiments of the invention.

Fig. 1 is a perspective of a rolled bar from which partly formed slugs are sheared. Figs. 2 and 3 are vertical sections illustrating the production of hinge leaves from such slugs.

Hinge leaves have been made from sheet metal blanks with lateral extensions which are bent up to formthe ears, the end being bent around to form the hood. But such bent sheet metal hinges have recognized weaknesses. The best practice has been to forge them in a drop forging or hammer forging machine to approximate shape with rough fins or flashes on the edges and to trim ofi the flash (which is waste) and perfect the shape and dimensions in a separate operation.

I propose a method in which the desired product is brought to size, shape and configuration from a blank stop piece or slug in one operation in a punch press, with practically all of its edges finished (excepting only the trimming of one end for length). In the present drawing the apparatus is illustrated only diagrammatically,

no claim being made herein to the apparatus.

A suitably shaped slug for making two blanks at once can be readily sheared to length from rolled bars or rods having an extra thickness of metal along the edges. The bar or strip 44 of Fig.

1 is rolled to the approximate channel shape shown with rounded flanges 45, and is sheared along the lines 46 to produce the partially formed slugs.

45 For such slugs the press has expanding tools. The punch 41 is divided centrally into two parts adapted to be held together by springs, or separated by a downwardly moving wedge 48. r

The die 49 is also centrally divided into two 50 parts normally separated by springs and adapted to be forced rigidly together by wedges. Various other means may be used for spreading and contracting the punch and the die. I

In this press, the forming movement is in the lateral or horizontal direction. The blank 50 is laid in horizontal position in the expanded die, 5 Fig. 2. The die is then contracted so that the sockets 5| thereof engage and firmly hold the enlargements 52 on the ends of the slug. The punch in contracted position is brought down to engage the slug 5|] and is then expanded to form 10 the inner faces of the hoods 22 and the ears. The double lead is then divided into two (after the withdrawal of the punch) along the line 53, or by cutting out a central portion to cut the bodies 2| of the leaves to exact length. 15

The double forging sticks to the punch as a rule because of shrinkage in cooling, and is readily stripped off. The partially formed slug is of practically the thickness of the body of the leaf, requiring very little, if any, work to be done on it. 20 Although the single punch press operation brings the product to required dimensions with finished faces and edges, such product may be subjected to other operations to achieve further refinements in finish or in detail. 25

Various modifications in the details of the mechanism, the shape of the slugs and the steps of the process may be 'made by those skilled in the art without departing from the invention as defined in the following claim. 30

What I claim is The method of forming hinge pieces having a flat body with ears at one end and a hood extending around the space between said cars which comprises forming a plastic work piece into a strip having thickened longitudinal rib sections along each edge thereof, the width of said strip being approximately twice the length of said body, the thickness of said strip between said ribs being approximately the thickness of said 40 body and the length of said strip being at least several times the width of said body, shearing said strip transversely to form slugs having a width subtantially equal to the width of said body, compressing and extruding the thickened rib sections of said slug in male and female dies adapted to shape the said ribs into said ears and hood portions of said hinge piece and severing the flattened body part of the thus shaped slug into two separate hinge pieces.

JAMES A. EDEN, JR. 

